


Safe in My Garden

by track_04



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Heaven, Human Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-28
Updated: 2011-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-14 18:39:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/518311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/track_04/pseuds/track_04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet moment between a man and an ex-angel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe in My Garden

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from, but the idea took hold and just wouldn't go away, so here you go. I'd say this takes place post-series (or, at least, my current idea of what I'd like to happen post-series, since I'd really love for the Winchesters and Cas and Bobby to at least get a bit of peace and maybe not complete and total suckage at the end of everything--a.k.a. everyone winds up in heaven and it's all rainbows and sunshine and nothing hurts). I'm also gonna blame this one at least partially on missmonster, who is the worst (or best?) enabler ever. Title taken from [the Mamas & the Papas song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNlcaZil_-0.) of the same name.

"Dean."

"About time you found me." Dean squints as he looks up at Cas, the sun bright in the sky, creating a halo effect around the other that he's sure is probably meant to have some sort of deeper meaning. He just can't be bothered to figure out what it is. "Thought you said you'd be right behind us."

"You were harder to find than I expected." The angel's shoulders slump a little, his trenchcoat swallowing him up and making him look smaller somehow, more tired.

"Dude, you're an angel. Don't you have some sort of built in GPS that lets you find your way around up here?"

"I'm not--that's not how it works." Cas clears his throat and looks away. "It would have been easier to find you before, but angels aren't omniscient. The human portions of Heaven have never been our domain. Finding an individual soul is difficult."

 _And I'm not an angel anymore._ Dean can practically see the words hanging in the air between them as Cas continues to do a good job of not meeting his eyes.

Dean stares at him, takes in the familiar rumpled suit and the crooked tie and the hair that's never so much styled as just there. He's missed Cas' (or Jimmy's... he's not sure how this works anymore) awful fashion sense more than he's willing to admit. "Don't worry about it. Have a seat."

Cas looks at the empty step beside Dean, staring at it for a long moment before he shuffles forward, lowering himself down onto the slightly bowed wood with a move that has all that I'm-not-quite-sure-how-this-body-works awkwardness that Dean's grown so used to. It's weird, sometimes, watching Castiel move. He's all gawky limbs and uncertainty on the surface, but if you look close enough you can see that weird sense of grace and power underneath, just below his borrowed skin. Dean's always wondered what it would be like to see that power slip free and come alive, to know what Cas moves like when he doesn't have human limitations holding him back. Although technically he doesn't have those limitations now. Cas isn't an angel anymore, and humans don't get to take their bodies with them to heaven.

"Dean?"

Dean doesn't realize he's been staring until he's already turning away. "So, now that you're here, you planning on sticking around?"

Cas shrugs, a gesture that looks out of place on him, even more so when it's only half-seen out of the corner of Dean's eye. "If that's what you want."

Dean frowns slightly and turns to face him, their knees brushing as he shifts against the step. "What about you? Do you want to be here?"

"Yes." The way Castiel answers, with no sense of hesitation in his voice, like he doesn't even stop to consider saying no, makes a lump rise in Dean's throat. He's not sure if he wants to reach over and squeeze Cas' shoulder or smack him upside the head. It must show in his face, because Cas frowns and looks away to stare out into the yard. His lips are drawn in a thin line and he's wearing that look that's angry and sort of defiant and hurt, the one that Dean wishes he wasn't quite so used to seeing, given he always seems to be the cause of it. "If you want me to leave--"

"No, I didn't--that's not what I meant." He leans forward, trying to catch Cas' eye. "I just don't want you to feel like you have to stick around if there's somewhere else you'd rather be."

A flash of the old anger crosses Cas' face. "I wouldn't have come if I didn't want to be here."

"Great." Dean smiles to himself and looks away again, searching for something to say that won't sound like a bad line from those Meg Ryan movies that he likes to pretend he's never seen. It's not that he doesn't believe that Cas wants to be here. He just can't imagine that there's no one else in all of Heaven that Cas would rather spend time with instead of him, especially after being stuck together topside for so many years. "You have good timing. I was just starting to get bored with the serious lack of conversation around here."

Cas looks around them like he's taking it all in for the first time, the empty house behind them and Bobby's scrapyard stretching out in front of them, everything peaceful save for the low, crackling strains of Johnny Cash coming from the old radio balanced on the railing at the far end of the porch. Dean doesn't remember the exact date of this memory and has no inkling why this particular moment would make the cut as part of his eternal paradise, but he doesn't mind so much. It's peaceful here, sitting on Bobby's dirty steps with nothing he has to do and nowhere he has to be, just enjoying the brief moment between bigger and better things.

"Where is Sam?" Cas is frowning, the _he should be here, too_ implied.

"His first date with Jess, I think." Dean shrugs and smiles at the worried look that Cas throws his way. "If you miss him that much, I can start quoting Oprah for you until he gets back."

"I believe Sam prefers The View."

Dean stares at him for a moment before he bursts into laughter. "Was that a joke?"

Cas shrugs in answer, but Dean can see the corners of his mouth twitching.

"You son of a bitch, that was a joke. And Sam's not even here to hear it. Do me a favor and repeat it when he gets back."

"I don't know if he would appreciate it," Cas mumbles, the worried look creeping back into his eyes. "Has Sam been gone long?" The question is a simple one, but Dean can hear the questions that Cas _wants_ to ask beneath it.

"Not that long." Dean smiles at him and hopes it looks reassuring. "You don't need to look so worried, dude."

"Sam should be here. You're meant to share this place together."

"We do. We just need some time to ourselves sometimes." Dean shrugs. "We lived in each other's pockets long enough to know when to take a break and give each other some space. Besides, I always feel awkward sitting around in his memories of Jess." Or the one of Ruby that he'd managed to stumble into a few weeks after Sammy had first popped into Heaven, looking slightly dazed and entirely too weepy when he found Dean waiting for him. It wasn't long after that that they'd come to an agreement that taking a break to enjoy a few moments alone probably wasn't such a terrible idea.

Dean is glad, honestly. He can't think of anyone he'd rather be stuck hanging around for the rest of eternity with than his little brother, but there are a few moments that Dean considers among his happiest that are a bit too chick-flick to share with anyone. Especially Sam, who would probably have no qualms about mocking him about them from now until the end of time. Literally.

"I suppose that makes sense." Cas is wearing that look that says he's accepted whatever Dean's just said, but he doesn't particularly like it. "Where is this place?"

"Bobby's house."

"No, I mean-- _when_ is this?"

"Dunno. A random day between shit storms?" Dean shrugs, glancing around them as the radio behind them crackles, switching over to a song that Dean remembers his dad singing along with once when he was a kid, legs pulled beneath him on the front seat as he stared out the window at the scenery rushing by, Sammy asleep and drooling in his car seat in the back. He thinks it might be Hank Williams, but he's not sure.

"It's nice."

"It would be kind of crappy if it wasn't, being Heaven and all."

Cas huffs a soft laugh and smiles one of his fleeting, uncertain smiles at that. "Individual heavens only have to be nice to the souls that occupy them."

"So what, you're telling me that some heavens are crappier than others?"

"No, just--" Cas frowns, looking down at his hands for a long moment. Dean bites his tongue to keep from filling up the silence with a smart ass comment. He's gotten better at resisting the urge. When it's important, anyway. "Each heaven is a reflection of the soul that created it. Some souls are more pleasant to be around than others."

"I guess my soul is one of the more pleasant ones, then?"

"Out of all the souls I've seen, I find yours the most pleasing. I've never seen another like it."

Dean coughs and looks away, trying to shake off his embarrassment. Years around humans--years _as_ a human--and sometimes Cas still blurts out intensely honest, weirdly emotional crap without any warning. It still throws him for a loop, but Dean finds that he doesn't mind it quite as much as he used to. He's secretly kind of glad that after all the shit that went down, Cas still has the ability to care that much.

Although Cas not caring was never really the problem.

Dean reaches down and picks a dandelion from the patch of weeds growing up beside Bobby's steps, twirling the stem between his fingers as he lets the silence drag out between them.

Beside him, Cas shifts against the step and inhales softly. Dean can practically feel another awkward comment building somewhere inside Cas so he turns, holding the dandelion up in front of his face and cutting him off at the pass.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a dandelion."

"I know what it is, Dean." Cas narrows his eyes at Dean before looking back at the flower like it's personally wronged him. "I've seen one before. I don't understand why you're showing it to me."

"I'm not showing it to you. You're supposed to blow on it."

"Why would I do that?"

"To make a wish."

"Flowers do not have the ability to grant wishes unless they're being used as part of a larger spell." Castiel throws him a look that implies that Dean should have already known as much.

"I know that. It's just something stupid humans do for fun. Like wishing on stars."

"A star would be the more logical choice. They're capricious at best, but they have been known to grant favors when it suits them."

"I--well, then. I guess we'll have to try that one out next, then." Dean grins, twirling the flower between his fingertips and watching Cas follow the movement with his eyes. "But for now, live a little."

"I have lived for millions of years," Cas mumbles and Dean can tell he's trying to sound a bit more sullen than he really is. It's the way he sounds right before he gives in to whatever stupid thing Dean has asked him to do this time. "How am I supposed to make a wish with it?"

"Blow on it."

Cas narrows eyes and turns to examine Dean's face. "Why would anyone believe that blowing on a flower would grant them a wish?"

"I don't know, Cas, they just do." He watches Cas frown and sighs, his hand starting to get tired from holding the flower up. "If you really want to know that bad, you can ask Sam when he gets back. I'm sure he read about it and has the answer stored away in that freakish brain of his."

"Fine, then, I wish--"

"Woah, woah, woah." Dean lowers the flower for a moment and holds up his free hand. "You can't say your wish out loud."

"I thought making a wish was the point of this exercise."

"It is." Dean smiles fondly and shakes his head. "But if you say your wish out loud it won't come true. You have to make the wish in your head and then--" he lifts the flower again, smile widening as Cas' eyes track the movement, "--you blow on the flower."

"These rules seem very arbitrary."

"Yeah, well, that's humans for you. Hurry up and make your wish."

Cas nods slightly and furrows his eyebrows, staring at the flower with an intensity that would be kind of creepy if Dean weren't so used to it, like he's trying to smite the flower out of existence with just the power of his mind. The moment, in true Castiel fashion, drags on longer than it should, ending as Cas flicks his eyes upward, almost as if he's seeking permission, before he purses his lips and blows. It's a bit of a weak attempt and leaves one half of the dandelion still covered in white fluff; Dean turns the flower and nudges Cas with his elbow, laughing a little as the other takes the hint and tries again.

The second time manages to do the trick, scattering the remaining seeds out across the patches of dirt and scraggly grass that Bobby used to pass off as a front yard, leaving nothing but an empty, rather sad looking stem behind. Castiel's eyes follow it as Dean drops it to the ground, gaze lingering thoughtfully for a moment.

"Is the wish granting meant to be instantaneous, or should I plan on waiting for it?"

"Smart ass. I never should have let you spend so much time around Sam."

"If Sam were here, he'd probably say the same about you." Cas turns to meet his gaze, the corners of his mouth hitched upward just enough to be noticeable.

"Yeah, well, that's why he's a bitch." Dean shrugs and shifts against the step, silence falling between them again, comfortable in its familiarity. Sometimes Dean thinks that all you really need to be happy in life--or afterlife--is people around you who know how to just sit back and enjoy the quiet with you without trying to make it anything bigger or better or other than what it is.

"Isn't it your turn now?" Cas finally breaks the silence what could be a few minutes or several hours later, a curious look on his face as he leans in a little too close to stare.

"My turn for what?"

"To make a wish."

"Oh." Dean smiles slowly and shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good. I don't really have anything I need to wish for right now."

Cas nods and takes Dean's words at face value. Dean has the sudden urge to ask Cas what he wished for but he bites it back, pushing himself up off the steps and onto the porch. He buries his hands in his pockets and nods toward the battered screen door with a grin. "Let's help ourselves to some of Bobby's beer before Sam gets back."

"Technically, it's not Bobby's beer. Only your memory of it."

"Whatever. You coming or not?"

"I am." Cas rises from the steps with more of his awkwardly graceful movements and waits for Dean to lead the way inside. And if Cas glances back at the dandelions out in the yard before they disappear back inside, Dean chooses not to comment on it.


End file.
